Tim Grobaty: Sail in to a weekend to savor - no foolin'

BOAT & BLOAT: Remember the column we wrote earlier this week? The one about how you can live all year long on nothing but "taste of" events in which you sample the offerings of area restaurants? And we named our favorite event of the sort?

Well, things change. Like, we might go back to putting olives in our martini instead of onions (the substitution, onions for olives, magically transforms a martini into a Gibson, but let's not haggle over condiments, shall we?) and our new favorite, if for no other reason than it's almost dinnertime now, is this evening's Sail & Savor from 5 to 10 p.m. on the Belmont Pier (which is now called Veterans Memorial Pier, but let's not quibble over wharfage nomenclature, shall we?).

Tied to the rigging of the Congressional Cup, the Sail & Savor lets you see the boats and meet some of the yacht cap'ns from all over the world while dining on this and that. Among the more than 20 participating restaurants are Buster's Beach House, McKenna's, Papalucci's, La Palapa, Naples Rib Co. and the Belmont Brewing Co.

The buy-in is $20 for adults, $10 for kids.

SMOKES & SAILS: You might as well tie up to the pier and sleep below decks after the Sail & Savor, because the next day - now we're talking Saturday - from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier will be the site of another Congressional Cup tie-in, the Vendor Expo, at which we'll find everything for our yachting needs - and our yachting needs are legion.

Bring your wallet, credit cards, debit cards and checkbook and check out exhibits by Flying Cloud Yachts, Anchor Canvas, Sailor's Ware, Long Beach Hydro Bikes, Cabrillo Boat Shop and Lovo Cigars. And, naturally, many more. Although we think Lovo is the only one with cigars.

RIDE & GO SEEK: Sunday is April Fools' Day! Haha! Just kidding! Sunday is actually June 4. Seriously. It is. Something to do with the Mayan calendar. Hahaha! LOL!!!! No, Sunday really is April Fools' Day. No, really. It is.

All right, now you don't believe anything we say. But why would we make up a story about a Bike Scavenger Hunt? Just to see you get all tarted up in your chartreuse and hot-pink Spandex unitard? We wouldn't do that.

So that's what's up from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. Sunday: the Long Beach Bike for Art, the inaugural Bike Scavenger Hunt, beginning and ending at MOLAA, 628 Alamitos Ave. in downtown Long Beach.

Riders will cruise through the streets of Long Beach following various clues and discovering local public art installations. There's a 12-stop hunt for adults and a four-stop hunt for families, with art activities for the kids at each stop.

After completing the scavenger hunt, bikers will return to the museum's sculpture garden for an after-party that will include a DJ, awards for best costume (that get-up you usually wear will do fine) and best-decorated bike, raffle prizes and more. Just for the kids alone, it's a full day, with bike and helmet-decorating stations, a "smoothie bike" drink station, and a bike safety rodeo featuring our longtime nemesis, Mr. Stop Sign.

Adult riders pay $35 for the scavenger hunt and party; student riders pay $20 and kids 5-12 get to play for free. If you want to skip the pedaling/hunting part, admission to the party is $20. Proceeds benefit the exhibition program at The Collaborative downtown art space.

Call MOLAA at 562-437-1689. Seriously. That's their number. Why would we make that up?

PLANTING KNOWLEDGE: If we win the all-the-money-in-the-world lottery tonight, the first thing we're going to do is write a check to Hughes Middle School so the students there won't have to have their library's schedule slashed in half because of budget cuts. Then we're going to go spend the rest of it at the yacht vendor thing at the pier.

If we don't win, the students at Hughes are going to have to go ahead with their Spring Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to raise funds to keep the library open.

The sale at the school, 3846 California Ave., Long Beach, will be held by the school's Green Team and Green Lab Urban Farm and will feature herbs and vegetable plants including tomatoes, basil, lettuce, peppers, eggplant, chard, beans, squashes and cucumbers.

Shoppers can hand-pick their own plants or purchase flats with a selection of herbs, vegetables and annual flowers.

If you miss the sale or just want to donate directly to the cause, you can write a check to Long Beach Education Foundation, with Hughes Library written on the memo line, and send it to Hughes Middle School Office, 3846 California Ave., Long Beach CA 90807.